title: The time to diagnosis in childhood lymphomas and other solid tumors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There are few reports from developing countries on the factors that influence the time to diagnosis (TD) in childhood cancer. The purpose of this study was to investigate the determinants of the TD in Turkish cancer patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective analysis was performed on 329 children diagnosed with cancer, excluding leukemia. The TD, including parent/patient time and physician time, was defined as the interval between the onset of symptoms and the final diagnosis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median times for parent/patient, physician, and TD were 3, 28, and 53 days, respectively. For patient in the 1-9 years age group, physician time and TD were significantly shorter than in infants and those over 10 years. The longest median TD was recorded for children with germ cell tumors and retinoblastoma; the shortest was in children with renal tumors. When the first point of contact was a pediatrician, a private hospital or physician's office, a governmental educational hospital or a university hospital physician time was short. The longest TD was noted in patients who first contacted a non-pediatric specialist. The most significant predictors of parent/patient, physician time, and TD were metastases at diagnosis, first medical center, and first health professional contacted, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The TD for childhood lymphomas and solid tumors was related to patient age, tumor type and location, the presence of distance metastases, first health professional, and center contacted. All physicians, especially other specialists seeing pediatric patients, need to be further sensitized to the signs and symptoms of childhood cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Oncology, Adnan Menderes University School of Medicine, Aydin, Turkey. rececen@adu.edu.tr
authors.forename: Emre
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cecen
authors.forename: Dilek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gunes
authors.forename: Kamer
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mutafoglu
authors.forename: Faik
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sarialioglu
authors.forename: Nur
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Olgun
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D057210:Delayed Diagnosis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003906:Developing Countries; D003933:Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D014421:Turkey; D055815:Young Adult